Israeli protesters’ message to PM
An effective political and social protest movement needs a slogan that encapsulates its objective and the mood of the country. In addition, it has to be catchy and must instinctively resonate with those who take to the streets. Evidently, the slogan used by protesters calling for the resignation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets all these criteria. “Lech” ( go) — a single two-letter word in Hebrew — has become the slogan on all the protestors’ lips, banners, stickers and T-shirts across the country. What started as a battle cry calling for a prime minister who is on trial for corruption to resign, or at least suspend himself until the courts decide his fate, is turning into a popular movement that is airing its widespread grievances against a leader who has been in power for too long and is utterly detached from the daily realities of ordinary citizens.
President Reuven Rivlin — in a rare act for an Israeli president — last week expressed his deep concerns regarding the current state of affairs in the country, capturing the general malaise of a population that has been forced into a second lockdown.
In his unprecedented speech, Rivlin became the voice of the people. He stopped short of calling for Netanyahu to “lech,” but the word was screaming from between the lines of this address by a veteran Likud member who knows that this might be the only way to spare the country from further misery. It is Netanyahu’s complete disregard for the democratic institutions and processes, let alone the wellbeing of the country and its people, that is deeply disturbing, not only for the prime minister’s political rivals but also for many Likud veterans and voters who are concerned for the soul of their party and the future of their country. The Netanyahu camp is showing a rapidly increasing tendency to miscalculate under pressure and underestimate the widespread anger. One obvious error of judgment was to prohibit demonstrators from protesting more than 1 km away from their homes. While the original aim was to stymie the many thousands of protesters who were gathering every week outside the prime minister’s Jerusalem residence, the unintended consequence was hundreds of smaller protests. The impact of these relatively small protests has been even greater than the original demonstrations. “Lech” is now being voiced by many more people, in many more places across the country, and this is unsettling the small circle led by Netanyahu, who in the past was the master manipulator of such situations, but is now increasingly losing ground and control of those around him. Israel, as a democracy and as a society, is at a critical crossroads in its short history. It requires an able government, one with integrity, that is free of corruption, and which puts the interest of the country above the narrow political consideration — in other words, everything that the current Israeli government, and especially the man who heads it, is lacking. Therefore, “Lech Netanyahu” remains the only hope for Israel to stop a dangerous tide that is threatening to engulf a very shaky democracy and a divided society.
Yossi Mekelberg is professor of international relations at Regent’s University London, where he is head of the International Relations and Social Sciences Program.